Thallus (poet)

Thallus of Miletus (Θαλλός), was an epigrammatic poet, five of whose epigrams are preserved in the Greek Anthology. Of these the first is in honour of the birthday of a Roman emperor, or one of the imperial family, on which account Bovinus supposes the poet to be the same person who is mentioned in an extant inscription as a freedman of Germanicus. The name is given in various forms: Thalos, Thyelaus, Thyillus ; it may have arisen from a confusion between the poet and the celebrated philosopher, Thales of Miletus. The name Thallos occurs frequently in inscriptions from Attica and Ionia.